


Past the Point of No Return

by Faequeen40



Series: Rhapsody [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith is a firefighter, Lance is a drama teacher, Lotor's car is an unfortunate casualty, M/M, Modern AU, Song prompts, gratuitous use of high school situations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-03 20:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12755232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faequeen40/pseuds/Faequeen40
Summary: A meet-cute between firefighter Keith and drama teacher Lance that may or may not have something to do with Lance's questionable driving habits.Song Prompt from Tumblr!





	Past the Point of No Return

**Author's Note:**

> I had a metric butt ton of fun coming up with an idea for this one.  
> I've never really written a non-space AU for Voltron so I'm kind of experimenting with this.  
> And I do have more ideas for this universe, even if its just a follow up chapter.  
> Part of my Birthday Bomb!

The sun above made Keith seriously consider his life choices, a piercing violet glare thrown in Shiro’s direction for good measure. It hadn’t been his idea to stand on the roadside in the middle of August in order to help gather donations for the upcoming holiday season and the ever popular “Shop with a Firefighter”.

It was a good cause, sure.

But it was so _fucking hot._

“I honestly don’t know how you roped me into this.” He huffed, continuing to glower at Shiro even as his Captain laughed.

“You did it because it’s a good idea.” Shiro smirked, “And because you really didn’t want me to post that picture of you cuddling Red to the Firehouse website.”

“I wasn’t cuddling! I had fallen asleep on the couch and she curled up with me!”

“You were cuddling the Firehouse cat and nothing you can say will ever convince me otherwise.” Shiro laughed, wiping at the sweat on his own brow, “Besides, our shift is almost over.”

“Our fundraising shift is almost over.” Keith grumbled, “After this, we have to go to the high school for that demonstration thing.”

“And you act like you don’t love getting to completely drench the entire parking lot.”

Keith couldn’t help but grin at that, crossing his arms over his chest. There wasn’t a lot that he could argue with there. Even high schoolers got a kick out of seeing the fire hose in action.

He also may have continuously aimed for this one really shitty teacher’s car. His aim wasn’t great but it was the thought that counted. “We’re doing the demonstration after school right?”

“Yeah, apparently the administration was worried that we would be disruptive this year.” Shiro hummed, lifting one brow as he gave a Keith a pointed look.

“I didn’t start that food fight.”

Shiro only laughed, turning away to walk up to one of the cars that had stopped nearby, the driver looking up at Shiro in a strange half-admiration/half-awe sort of way.

Shiro tended to have that effect on people.

Keith turned to the stoplight on his side and glared at the continuously green light. It would turn soon and he’d need to see if any of the cars stopped would be willing to even roll their windows down in this heat. Most of the people in the area were kind enough to give a bit but even the nicest place in the world had its fair share of assholes.

Grumbling, he dragged his hand through his bangs, the sweat gathering there threatening to slick them back against his skull. He grimaced at the feeling and lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe at his face.

Whoever decided that wearing black in August was a good idea was an idiot….

That would definitely still be him. Whatever. He was going to blame Shiro.

He let the t shirt fall away just in time to make eye contact with the driver of a quickly approaching blue mini-van. The man driving had the brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen and an expression of complete distraction.

Keith was even kinda sure he was gaping at the moment.

And he wasn’t slowing down. Like at all.

That was definitely a yellow light.

Even if this guy was gorgeous, Keith couldn’t really encourage him in what was probably going to result in running a red light.

“Hey! Slow down!”

His words seemed to pull the man from his stupor and his face abruptly turned panicked, a pterodactyl-like screech pulling itself from him as he continued to drive forward, speed almost seeming to increase.

The van’s tires crossed the white line just as the light turned red and the screeching resolved itself into some very pleasant if a bit panicked singing that Keith could clearly hear as the van rushed past him.

“ _Past the point of no return, no going back now!”_

Keith couldn’t help but bark out a surprised laugh, pushing his bangs out of his face so he could stare incredulously after the van in question. That-admittedly, very cute-guy had just run a red light and was _justifying_ it himself by singing the Phantom of the Opera.

What even was life?

“What the hell was that all about?” Shiro chuckled, coming up beside him as the lanes Keith was responsible for started filling up.

“Some guy just ran the red light while singing Phantom of the Opera.” Keith said incredulously, body moving on autopilot to the first car in the lane.

“Probably not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen doing this but it’s definitely a top ten.”

~~~~

“So you’re telling me that thanks to a very hot firefighter, you had a slight gay crisis and may or may not have run a red light on your way to work this morning?” Hunk laughed, leaning against the stage behind him, a hand over his eyes as he tried desperately not to laugh at Lance’s put off expression.

Lance scowled at him, reorganizing his notes for rehearsal for the fourth time as he refused to look at his best friend. “I didn’t ‘run a red light’. I was the past the point of no return. Couldn’t have stopped.”

“Yeah, and you totally weren’t so distracted by said hot firefighter that you didn’t start stopping in time.” Hunk snorted, losing the battle with his giggles.

“You didn’t see him though, Hunk!” Lance whined, letting his forehead hit his desk with a resounding thunk, “Those were the kind of abs that one can only fantasize about. You don’t see that in real life!”

“Gay crisis notwithstanding, you’re pretty lucky you didn’t get hurt.” Hunk said seriously, Lance quailing a bit under his patented ‘teacher face’.

“You make such a good shop teacher.” Lance grumbled, “I bet no one ever gets hurt in your class because they don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Don’t change the subject, bro.”

“Sorry, couldn’t help it.” Lance sighed, “I know. I was pretty lucky. But the situation is behind us. I’ll probably never see that firefighter again and I need to focus on my show this weekend.”

“Speaking of, you might be a little too immersed.”

“How so?”

Hunk’s grin returned and he gestured to the desk in front of them. “Well first of all, your first reaction to going over the ‘point of no return’ was to actually start singing ‘Past the Point of No Return’. And all this? Lance, your rehearsal doesn’t start for two more hours. Everyone is going to that demonstration before they get into club activities.”

“It’s not that great.”

“The firefighters douse the entire parking lot and one of them almost always aims for Lotor’s car and completely soaks the interior. It’s absolutely worth seeing just to watch how mad he gets.” Hunk countered, “Plus, don’t you want to see if you can run into your hot firefighter again?”

“No!” Lance shrieked, “I literally told you my whole embarrassing story and you think I _want_ to see him again?!”

“Kind of? I’m getting mixed signals here.”

“Absolutely not!”

Hunk huffed out a frustrated sigh and walked over to where Lance was slumped behind his desk, almost compulsively organizing everything. “I know it’s Hell Week but you need some time out of here. You let the kids go to the demonstration for the same reason, right? They need you in prime shape too!”

“There’s so much work to get done!”

“Bro, either you go or I tell Pidge the whole story about your hot firefighter.”

Lance sat up abruptly and glared at his best friend, clutching his notes almost protectively to his chest. “You wouldn’t.”

“Definitely would.”

“What are we telling Pidge?”

The gremlin in question popped her head out from props on the stage, paint streaking one cheek and a flashing contraption clutched in her hand.

“Nothing!” Lance squeaked, sending sharp looks between the two of them.

“I could almost sense some kind of blackmail material going down.” Pidge grinned, disappearing back within the prop, her voice echoing through the empty theatre, “And I will not rest until it is mine.”

“This is why we can’t have nice things.” Lance growled, throwing a dark expression in Hunk’s direction, the broad man only lifting his hands in an effort at placation even as he laughed.

“I’ll fill you in later, Pidge. But your purpose as a threat has been useful.” Hunk laughed, following along as Lance trudged toward the theatre doors.

“I aim to serve.”

“Don’t set anything on fire!” Lance hissed, voice carrying easily through the back stage area.

“I’m a professional, Lance. You didn’t hire me to set shit on fire. You hired me to make this show fucking awesome.” Pidge said airily, “Beside, fire comes later. We’re not rehearsing that part today.”

Lance hesitated for a moment before Hunk continued to push him the rest of the way out of the door. “Nah, buddy. We need fresh air and the wonderful poetic justice of Lotor’s inevitable freak out. You can worry about Pidge and her inscrutable life choices when you come back. Let’s go be easily entertained like teenagers again.”

A sigh pulled itself from Lance’s chest and he simply let his oldest friend pull him along, the promise of fresh air doing more than to perk him up than he really wanted to admit. It really had been a hellacious week already and with two more days left until the show’s opening night, it didn’t show signs of getting any better.

Putting on the Phantom of the Opera at such a small school was ambitious, almost scarily so. Allura was letting him take this risk with the school’s Theatre department and he didn’t want to let her down. He certainly didn’t want his kids to be ashamed of this performance. It was part of the reason why he was trying so hard.

That and he’d always dreamed of being a part of this production. It was a teenage dream come true.

He wasn’t about to let anything get in the way of that.

The August heat hit him like a brick to the face and he frowned, this morning’s issue with his car’s air condition nearly forgotten until he had decided to let Hunk drag him back out into the almost oppressive air.

He squinted through the blinding sun and almost turned around and marched right back into the building.

The sleek red fire engine parked right in front of the school gleamed in the intense sunlight, the small crowd of high schoolers not doing much to block Lance’s vision.

And for once, Lance was absolutely not grateful for that.

Because, lo and behold, there stood his hot firefighter in all his muscled, mulleted glory.

It wasn’t fair!

Any other time, Lance would be on that. He would be on that so fast he’d leave a cloud of dust in his wake….but this firefighter had absolutely seen his embarrassing display this morning.

There was no way he could simply waltz up and hit on him now!

Lance whined as Hunk continued to drag him closer, actively digging in his feet now that he knew for a fact that the firefighter responsible for his slight panic this morning was here.

What was he going to do?

~~~~

The crowd of students surrounding the fire engine was far smaller than Keith was used to and he tried not to let the lack of turn out bring down his mood. The demonstrations really were some of his favorite things to do and while high schoolers didn’t get nearly as excited as the elementary school students did, they had their own special brand of enthusiasm.

A lot of the students seemed to be excited just to be outside which was something that Keith absolutely couldn’t understand.

It was hot as _fuck_ out right now.

“You are going to do the hose thing, right?” One of the students asked excitedly, her phone bobbing in her hold.

“Of course we are.” Shiro answered brightly, ever ready to answer any of the questions posed during these demonstrations.

Keith wasn’t always great with words and may have made a few children cry in years past. They all just agreed to let him be the one to man the hose instead.

It worked out.

He went about the motions of setting the hose up, double and triple checking every valve he could think of just to be safe. While watching the hose was fun, he didn’t want any of the kids to be in danger around the potentially dangerous piece of equipment.

Satisfied with his checks, he lounged against the side of the engine, peering out over the parking lot in an effort to identify his intended target. It was a yearly tradition at this point and he was definitely going to go out of his way to douse Mr. Prince’s car.

It wasn’t hard to find.

No one else would drive a car that shade of gaudy orange, the blue detailing almost as eye-searing. And it was in such a perfect spot too.

No collateral damage.

It’s almost like everyone wanted that particular car to get hit.

A grin pulled at his lips and he made to turn around when he caught sight of another familiar vehicle.

The blue minivan.

Its windows were still down, the beat up exterior speaking of a long and varied life of experiences. Judging by the way it had been driven earlier, Keith wasn’t altogether surprised at how dinged up it appeared.

Phantom guy wasn’t kind to his car.

But seeing as the minivan was here, that meant he probably worked at Altea High. It was the smallest school in the county and Keith had never run into too many people who worked there, Lotor notwithstanding.

He was also parked in the faculty lot so that meant Phantom guy was a _teacher._

Keith pushed down the thought and turned back to the crowd, steeling himself for working with the hose. What would he even do if he ran into Phantom guy again?

Sure he was cute but literally their only interaction had been that awkward moment of eye contact before Phantom guy had run a red light.

He was probably too busy with grading papers to come watch anyway.

As he pulled the hose into position, Keith tried to pretend he wasn’t disappointed.

“Ready?” Shiro called, catching his attention with a loud clap.

Keith nodded, planting his feet as best he could and giving a slight bend to his knees. The pressure of the hose was always a shock, a wave of force that could easily knock someone off their feet. Shiro had been knocked backwards before during a demonstration but Keith was smaller, stockier.

There was no way in hell this hose was gonna take him down.

The muscles in his arms flexed as he pointed the hose skyward, the water cascading in a deluge out over the parking lot and blowing back over the students, their delighted screeches making him grin. Carefully, he maneuvered the unwieldy hose, tongue sticking out between his teeth as he tried to line up the hose just right.

A wordless howl of rage let him know that he’d hit right on target.

Hitting Lotor’s car was always his favorite part.

Maybe next time he’d roll up his windows.

The pressure to the hose eased off slowly as Shiro continued with the rest of his presentation and Keith took the opportunity to wind up the giant piece of equipment and stretch the kinks out of his arms.

Holding that much pressure steady was hell on his arms.

A burst of laugher made him glance up, face flushing as he saw the man from this morning looking anywhere but in his direction while the mountain of a man beside him laughed loudly.

His…uh, his car didn’t really do him justice.

Phantom guy was _gorgeous._

When he wasn’t gaping like some kind of startled fish, he was actually pretty handsome, the ‘gonna double take in public’ kind of handsome.

And _tall._

Keith couldn’t not want to climb _that._

His mouth went dry as it was his turn to gape at the very hot teacher, the students rushing past him to return to whatever after school activities they had neglected to come watch the demonstration. Several students called out words of greeting to Phantom guy and he returned them warmly.

Whatever Phantom guy taught, his students loved him a lot.

It kind of made Keith curious.

Surely it wouldn’t hurt to go introduce himself, make sure things were okay?

Psssh, who was he kidding? Talking? Like an actual person?

That sounded entirely too terrifying.

Besides, Phantom guy looked very embarrassed right about now.

Shiro clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of anxious thoughts and making him shut his jaw with an audible click. “I see you managed to hit it again.”

“That almost make it too easy.” Keith grinned, gesturing to the drenched car, “No one ever wants to park around him when we come to do these.”

Shiro laughed and squeezed his shoulder. “The new principal seems to get a kick out of it anyway. She says she wants to give us an official tour of the school.”

“We’ve been here so many times though?” Keith hummed, confused even as he followed after Shiro’s retreating figure.

“She says that they’ve changed a lot.” Shiro shrugged, his own eyes going wide as Altea’s new principal met them at the doors, her long white hair thrown up in a messy bun, and paint streaked jeans held up by mismatched suspenders.

“Oh! There you are! Sorry about my mess. I’ve been helping in the Theatre department. They have a big production coming up.” She rushed, a genuine smile pulling at her lips.

Keith took one look at Shiro’s shell shocked expression and smirked. Oh this was the perfect pay back for the cat cuddling picture.

“Why don’t you go with the Principal, Captain? I’d like to see this Theatre department.” Keith said sneakily, Shiro’s flushing glare going completely ignored.

“Oh, that’s perfectly fine! We’re very proud of it. Mr. McLain has been a great addition to our staff. We’re actually putting on the Phantom of the Opera this year thanks to him.”

Keith nodded along quietly, the principal chattering away as she led Shiro into the school, the Captain pointing to his eyes before pointing to Keith himself.

“That picture still exists.”

“Your face still exists.” Keith retorted, grimacing as Shiro left his line of sight.

He took a few steps into the air conditioned building and simply sighed, the coolness of the air immediately putting him in a better mood.

What else could he ask for?

He was cooled off, he had once again managed to hit Lotor’s car and he now had prime teasing material for Shiro.

Today wasn’t that bad a day after all.

The pitter patter of quick steps startled him and a familiar head of brown hair peeked around the corner, suspicious gaze going bright with excitement. “Keith!”

Keith blinked for a moment before a smile broke out over his own face and he stepped forward to greet one of his best friends. “Pidge! What are you doing here? I know you can pass for a high schooler but I didn’t think you’d try to sneak into one for fun.”

Pidge grimaced and gestured for him to follow her as she continued to walk. “Ha ha, very funny. I was hired by the Theatre director to be in charge of some special effects for the show. So far it’s all coming together pretty good. Hunk and I make a pretty great team when it comes to making stuff.”

“He must be pretty serious if he hired you.” Keith mused, following after Pidge and absently carrying the mess she jabbed into his space, “Don’t you usually do more robotics based work?”

“I may or may not have owed Lance a favor.” Pidge grumbled, leading him down the hallway and continuously adding to his load.

“That and you can’t help but show off a bit.”

“You got me in a box there.” Pidge sighed, holding open a set of double doors for Keith to walk through.

Loud music echoed through the theatre and Keith barely suppressed a bark of laughter when he recognized the words being sung by the boy on the stage, a girl standing directly opposite him in a brightly colored dress.

” _Past the point of no return, no going back now…”_

“Stop! Just…stop.” A distinctly male voice called out, clearly tired and a little irritated, “Mark, I love you but right now you’re not giving me Phantom vibes. You’re giving me the vibes of a tired old man. This is a huge part of the show. You need to have some energy.”

“Gotcha, Mr. McLain.” The boy sighed, “I’m just really hungry.”

“There’s a couple of granola bars in the bag next to my desk. Grab one and watch. I’ll run through the scene with Clarisse. She missed Monday so I want her to make sure she’s got the rest of the scene.”

“Oh, this oughta be good.” Pidge grinned, nudging Keith with a shoulder, “Come with me.”

Setting down the bundle in his arms, Keith followed Pidge’s direction obediently, the two of them moving around the side of the stage so they could see the entire set up. His tech gremlin of a friend sat them in the far back but there was no mistaking the man on stage.

It was Phantom guy.

Certain things made way more sense now.

He fit into the scene almost seamlessly, everything about him just enthralling Keith. His voice was beautiful and he moved with purpose, circling the small girl on the stage with a grace that bordered on ethereal.

Keith was on the edge of his seat for the entire scene, fingers curling over the seat in front of him as Phantom guy, no, Lance chased the actress over the stage, lithe frame swinging from the sturdy set pieces and cutting her off at every turn.

Throw in the deeply thrilling song currently being sung?

Keith had never been jealous of a fifteen year old before but this might be a first.

Then just as quickly as it started, it was over and Keith was left wanting, a need to know this Lance better digging at him.

Pidge leaned back in the chair beside him, kicking her feet up over the chair in front of her, a wicked look in her hazel eyes. “He’s single by the way.”

Keith sputtered at her words, trying and failing to dissuade her from that line of thinking but nothing would come.

She had him.

“Although, if you’re gonna ask him out you might want to specify it for after this weekend. I’ve never seen someone so devoted to a fucking show before.”

“What makes you think I’ll ask him out?”

“You want him to ask you? It does seem a bit like his style.”

“Pidge.”

“Keith.”

“I wouldn’t even know how to ask him out.”

“Easy. You wanna go get dinner some time?”

“That’s not how I work and you know it.”

“Okay, fine. Wanna go set shit on fire with me?”

Keith groaned and climbed to his feet, intent on making his way back to the engine and waiting for Shiro to return. Pidge let him go without a word although the grin on her face did make him slightly nervous.

Pidge didn’t just let things go.

He walked by the front of the stage as quietly as he could, not wanting to interrupt their rehearsal when a loud yelp caught his attention and he found himself with his arms full of a very attractive, very shocked drama teacher.

A mechanical floor panel slowly lowered itself back into the stage proper as both men watched, the two of them still with shock before turning their gazes back to each other.

“Guess I’ve fallen for you.”

_What._

~~~~

Oh my god, what did he just say.

Could the ground open up and swallow him now?

Lance resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands, the relative ease of the firefighter’s hold on him making his mind wander places that it definitely shouldn’t while on school property.

“Uh, what?”

Eloquent. Articulate.

Not that Lance could fault him after all. That definitely wasn’t his best line.

“Good thing I was here to catch you?” The firefighter tried, an adorable awkwardness in his answer that made Lance want to curl around him and squeal.

“Mr. McLain are you okay?”

Sweet Clarisse. If only she had given him like five more minutes.

Gingerly, the firefighter lowered his legs to the floor, holding on to his waist like he was afraid that Lance might fall again.

He might if that guy wasn’t careful. Gonna take an express ride to swoonville. Population Lance.

“I’m okay. We’ll just need to be careful around that panel. I know Pidge said it was weight activated but I didn’t think it was quite that touchy.”

The firefighter didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, his fingers making aborted moves towards letting go of him but seeming to be unsure if he should.

“I really should thank you.” Lance tried, turning in the man’s hold to look at him properly.

Damn it. No one should be that pretty up close.

He could even excuse the mullet.

_The mullet._

“It was no problem. I’m just glad you aren’t hurt.” He said softly, pretty violet eyes a little nervous.

“I’m Lance by the way.”

“Keith.”

“As thanks, why don’t you let me take you out to dinner? My treat?” Lance tried, a voice that sounded suspiciously like his older brother berating him about asking out the firefighter he’d embarrassed himself in front of this morning.

“Are you asking me out?”

“Would you be amenable to that?”

“I mean…yeah, but…”

~~~~

Keith had no idea what his life was.

Hot drama teacher literally falls into his arms and then asks him out.

_What is life?_

“But what?” Lance asks, a somewhat apprehensive look on his face.

A smirk pulled itself over his face and Keith felt his arms cross over his chest. “You’ll have to promise not to run any more red lights to get us there.”

Crimson danced across Lance’s face and the drama teacher turned away from him with a cough. “I’ll do my best. Just as long as you promise not to distract me.”

“No promises.”

A grin curved over his face and Keith walked towards theatre entrance, glancing back to see Lance watching him intently. “I’ll come find you after the last show. Sunday at 2 right?”

“I’ll be the one with the rainbow bowtie!”

Keith laughed as he left, excitement pooling in his chest.

This may not have been the weirdest fundraiser day he’d ever had but it was definitely the best.

Especially when he got a date with the Phantom guy out of it.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy hecking birthday to me yall!  
> And not gonna lie, I do this exact thing when I can't stop before the light turns red. I will sing that song as Loud as i possibly can. My best friend laughs at me every time.  
> I'm also not usually allowed to drive us places.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this! I have a bit more ideas I could throw in so if you have suggestions throw me a bone!  
> Also, as always, I appreciate all of you and caps lock is the true path to my heart.  
> Til next time, guys!


End file.
